Method and apparatus for providing supplementary product sales to a customer at a customer terminal

ABSTRACT

A system for providing supplementary product sales is provided in which a central controller receives a purchase from a card authorization terminal. The purchase includes at least one purchase parameter, such as a customer account identifier, product identifiers for specifying items purchased or product price. The central controller determines a supplementary product to offer that is based on the at least one purchase parameter. A product identifier for specifying the supplementary product is transmitted to the card authorization terminal, where the customer chooses whether to accept the offered supplementary product. The card authorization terminal generates and transmits to the central controller a selection signal indicative of whether the supplementary product is accepted. If the selection signal indicates that the supplementary product is accepted, the central controller adjusts a balance of a financial account in dependence on an adjustment value associated with the supplementary product.

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/699,462, entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDINGSUPPLEMENTARY PRODUCT SALES TO A CUSTOMER AT A CUSTOMER TERMINAL, filedon Oct. 31, 2003; which is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 08/994,426, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDINGSUPPLEMENTARY PRODUCT SALES TO A CUSTOMER AT A CUSTOMER TERMINAL”, filedon Dec. 19, 1997 and which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,694,300 on Feb. 17,2004; which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 08/920,116, entitled “METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROCESSING SUPPLEMENTARYPRODUCT SALES AT A POINT-OF-SALE TERMINAL”, filed on Aug. 26, 1997 andwhich issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,119,099 on Sep. 12, 2000; which is acontinuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/822,709,entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PERFORMING LOTTERY TICKET TRANSACTIONSUTILIZING POINT-OF-SALE TERMINALS”, filed on Mar. 21, 1997 and whichissued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,267,670 B1 on Jul. 31, 2001, each of which areincorporated herein by reference as part of the present disclosure. Theabove-identified U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/994,426 is also acontinuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/982,149,entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PRINTING A BILLING STATEMENT TOPROVIDE SUPPLEMENTARY PRODUCT SALES”, filed on Dec. 1, 1997, whichissued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,196,458 B1 on Mar. 6, 2001, and which isincorporated herein by reference as part of the present disclosure.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The following commonly owned co-pending patent applications may beconsidered related to the present application: U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 09/045,036 entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THEPLAY OF FRACTIONAL LOTTERY TICKETS UTILIZING POINT-OF-SALE TERMINALS”,filed Mar. 20, 1998 in the name of Walker et al.; U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/045,386 entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FORCONTROLLING THE PERFORMANCE OF A SUPPLEMENTARY PROCESS AT A POINT OFSALE TERMINAL”, filed Mar. 20, 1998 in the name of Walker et al.; U.S.patent application Ser. No. 09/045,518 entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUSFOR PROCESSING A SUPPLEMENTARY PRODUCT SALE AT A POINT-OF-SALETERMINAL”, filed Mar. 20, 1998 in the name of Walker et al.; and U.S.patent application Ser. No. 09/107,971 entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUSFOR FACILITATING THE PLAY OF FRACTIONAL LOTTERY TICKETS UTILIZINGPOINT-OF-SALE TERMINALS”, filed Jun. 30, 1998 in the name of Walker etal.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to point-of-sale terminals, and, morespecifically, to methods and systems for processing product sales atpoint-of-sale terminals.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In many stores, purchases are consummated at a point of sale (“POS”)terminal which includes a card authorization terminal (“CAT”), such asthose manufactured by Verifone, Inc., for reading cards such as creditcards and debit cards and generating data relating to a purchase. Duringa sale, the CAT typically communicates, directly or indirectly, with acredit card issuer's computer that maintains customer financialaccounts. The CAT transmits purchase data, such as a customer's creditcard account number, a merchant identifier for specifying the merchantselling the purchase, a purchase price and the items included in thepurchase. The issuer computer receives this purchase data from the CAT,and determines whether to authorize the purchase. If the purchase isauthorized, the issuer computer debits the customer's financial accountby the purchase price and stores some or all of the purchase data forsubsequent use in generating a billing statement.

The issuer computer thus accumulates information about the customer'spurchases. Such information may be used in providing rewards to acustomer in return for past purchases with the financial account. Forexample, in the “U$AVE” program promoted by First Data Corporation,credit card account holders are automatically provided a discount on apresent purchase. The discount is based on previous purchases thecustomer has made, and typically takes the form of a reduced purchaseprice or a credit on the customer's credit card account. Similarly, theAmerican Express “Express Rewards” program reduces a customer's purchaseprice if he has made certain types of purchases in the past, and theAmerican Express “Custom Extras” program alerts credit card accountholders to savings from particular merchants on their billingstatements.

At best, such systems utilize information about customers' purchases toprovide rewards for past purchases. Merchants hope that customeranticipation of such rewards may generate future sales. However, thereis no guarantee that merchants will enjoy additional business from thecustomers. In addition, customers may not always remember which types ofpurchases will eventually yield rewards. Accordingly, the rewards maynot provide a strong incentive to make purchases.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method andapparatus for offering supplementary product sales to a customer via acard authorization terminal.

In accordance with the present invention, a central controller, whichmay be operated by a credit card issuer, receives a signal indicative ofa purchase from a card authorization terminal. The purchase signalincludes at least one purchase parameter, such as a customer accountidentifier, product price or product identifiers for specifying itemspurchased. The central controller determines a supplementary product tooffer that is based on the at least one purchase parameter. A productidentifier for specifying the supplementary product is transmitted tothe card authorization terminal, where the customer chooses whether toaccept the offered supplementary product. The card authorizationterminal generates and transmits to the central controller a selectionsignal indicative of whether the supplementary product is accepted.

If the selection signal indicates that the supplementary product isaccepted, the central controller adjusts the balance of one or morefinancial accounts in dependence on an adjustment value associated withthe supplementary product. The financial accounts may be, for example, acredit card account of the customer, a bank account of the merchantcontrolling the card authorization terminal, and/or a bank account of amerchant offering the accepted supplementary product. Thus, payment forthe supplementary product or rewards for accepting the supplementaryproduct may be transferred among various parties automatically.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of an apparatus for providingsupplementary product sales to a customer at a card authorizationterminal.

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of a central controller of theapparatus of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of a record of an account holdertransaction database of the central controller of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of an upsell database of the centralcontroller of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of a record of an accepted upselldatabase of the central controller of FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a method for providing supplementaryproduct sales to a customer at a card authorization terminal.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating a method, performed by a cardauthorization terminal, for providing supplementary product sales to acustomer.

FIG. 8 is a schematic illustration of records employed in illustrating ause of an adjustment value.

FIG. 9 is a schematic illustration of records employed in illustratinganother use of an adjustment value.

FIG. 10 is a schematic illustration of records employed in illustratinganother use of an adjustment value.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart illustrating a method for providingsupplementary product sales to a customer at a card authorizationterminal.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention provides merchants with the ability to make salesthrough the POS terminals and stores of other merchants, withoutregistering, associating or affiliating with any of those othermerchants Accordingly, the present invention allows a “sponsoringmerchant” to target and sell to customers making purchases at virtuallyany store having a card authorization terminal. In effect, the cardauthorization terminal may be shared by more than one merchant.Applicants are not aware of any other system that allows third partiesto sell through another's POS terminal or card authorization terminal.

One benefit of the present invention is that a sponsoring merchant needregister with only a credit card issuer rather than with a plurality ofother merchants. The credit card issuer is involved in every transactionon many credit card accounts, and thus is able to maintain records foreach transaction of an account holder. Accordingly, customers are notrequired to make purchases at any particular merchant, but may makepurchases at any merchant that accepts credit cards. By contrast, asingle merchant may, at best, track and maintain records only fortransactions involving that merchant. Thus, a large number oftransactions cannot be easily recorded by any one merchant.

Furthermore, the methods and apparatus of the present invention provideoffers for supplementary products (“upsells”) which are individuallycustomized to be more desirable and acceptable to each customer, ratherthan offers which are provided to every customer. The offers, ifaccepted, can provide the customer with immediate gratification, forexample, by providing a product or a discount, or by providing a voucherthat may be redeemed for a product or other reward.

The description that follows is arranged into the following sections:Receiving Transactions, Determining a Product, Customer Selection andAdjusting a Balance of a Financial Account.

Receiving Transactions

Referring to FIG. 1, an apparatus 10 comprises a central controller 12in communication with each of POS terminals 14, 16 and 18. Althoughthree POS terminals are shown in FIG. 1, any number of POS terminals maybe in communication with the central controller 12. The centralcontroller 12 may be in communication with the POS terminals 14, 16 and18 through any of a number of known connection methods, such as throughan Internet connection or a wireless communication protocol. The centralcontroller 12 is typically operated by or on behalf of a credit cardissuer, such as CitiBank, a credit card clearing house, such as FirstData Corporation, or a product manufacturer, such as Sony Corporation.The central controller 12 is also in communication with an electronicfunds transfer (“EFT”) network 19, thereby permitting the centralcontroller 12 to transfer funds among financial accounts.

Each of the POS terminals 14, 16 and 18 includes a CAT, such as thosemanufactured by Verifone, Inc., or a similar device for generating datarelating to a purchase, such as purchase price, the item(s) purchased,and other purchase parameters. The POS terminals 14, 16 and 18 transmitthis generated data to the central controller 12, thereby informing thecentral controller 12 of the data relating to the purchase. The POSterminals 14, 16 and 18 may transmit information to the centralcontroller 12 in many different forms. For example, each of the POSterminals 14, 16 and 18 may include a credit card reader (not shown)which uses the MasterCard Purchasing Card Level III protocol to transmita credit card account number, data identifying the items purchased andother purchase-related information, to the central controller 12. Inaddition, the POS terminals 14, 16 and 18 can encrypt the data relatingto a purchase for security purposes, and transmit the encrypted data tothe central controller 12, which decrypts the encrypted data. Manyencryption and decryption techniques are well known, and described inthe text “Applied Cryptography, Protocols, Algorithms, and Source Codein C”, Second Edition, by Bruce Schneier.

Referring to FIG. 2, the central controller 12 comprises a processor 20,such as one or more conventional microprocessors, which is connected toa data storage device 22, such as an appropriate combination ofmagnetic, optical and semiconductor memory. The processor 20 is incommunication with each of the POS terminals 14, 16 and 18 and with theEFT network 19. The processor 20 and the storage device 22 may each be(i) located entirely within a single computer or other computing device;(ii) connected to each other by a remote communication link, such as aserial port cable, telephone line or radio frequency transceiver; or(iii) a combination thereof. For example, the central controller 12 maycomprise one or more computers which are connected to a remote servercomputer for maintaining databases.

The storage device 22 stores (i) a program 24 for controlling theprocessor 20; (ii) an account holder transaction database 26; (iii) anupsell database 28; and (iv) an accepted upsell database 30. The program24 drives the processor 20 to operate in accordance with the presentinvention, and particularly in accordance with the methods described indetail herein. The program 24 furthermore includes program elements thatmay be necessary, such as “device drivers” for allowing the processor tointerface with computer peripheral devices. Appropriate device driversand other necessary program elements are known to those skilled in theart, and need not be described in detail herein. The databases 26, 28and 30 are described in detail below and depicted with exemplary entriesin the accompanying figures. As will be understood by those skilled inthe art, the schematic illustrations and accompanying descriptions ofthe databases presented herein are exemplary arrangements for storedrepresentations of information. A number of other arrangements may beemployed besides the tables shown. Similarly, the illustrated entriesrepresent exemplary information, but those skilled in the art willunderstand that the number and content of the entries can be differentfrom those illustrated herein.

Referring to FIG. 3, a record 40 of the account holder transactiondatabase 26 (FIG. 2) defines the transactions applied against an accountthat is identified by an account identifier 42. The account holdertransaction database 26 (FIG. 2) typically includes a plurality ofrecords such as the record 40, and each record defines the transactionsapplied against an account holder's account. The record 40 includesentries 44, 46, 48, 50, 52 and 54 which each describe a transactionapplied against the account holder account identified by the accountidentifier 42. Each of the entries 44, 46, 48, 50, 52 and 54 specifies(i) a transaction identifier 56 for uniquely indicating a transaction;(ii) a transaction type 58; (iii) a date 60 of the transaction; (iv) adate 62 when the transaction is “posted” (made available to the centralcontroller 12 of FIG. 1); (v) a transaction amount 64; (vi) a merchantidentifier 66 for specifying a merchant participating in thetransaction; (vii) an item identifier 68 for specifying an itempurchased, if any; and (viii) a description 70 of the transaction. Itwill be understood by those skilled in the art that each record of theaccount holder transaction database 26 (FIG. 2) may include any numberof entries.

In summary, data relating to a purchase is transmitted from a POSterminal to the central controller 12 (FIG. 2), where the data isstored. The central controller 12 in turn processes the data todetermine a supplementary product to offer.

Determining a Product to Offer

In the system of the present invention, at least one sponsoring merchantmay sell its products (goods and/or services) through POS terminals itdoes not own or control. The sponsoring merchant first specifies to thecentral controller 12 (FIG. 1) a supplementary product to offer, theconditions under which to offer the supplementary product, and the pricerequired of the customer or the reward provided to the customer inexchange for accepting the supplementary product. Then, based onpurchase data from a POS terminal, the central controller 12 determineswhether customers meet the conditions and therefore should be offeredthe supplementary product.

Referring to FIG. 4, the upsell database 28 stores entries 82, 84, 86,88, 89 and 90 which each define a potential supplementary product offer.Each of the entries 82, 84, 86, 88, 89 and 90 includes (i) an upsellidentifier 91 for uniquely identifying the potential supplementaryproduct (upsell) offer, (ii) a merchant identifier 92 for identifyingthe merchant offering the supplementary product, (iii) a financialaccount identifier 93 for specifying a financial account of the merchantfor receiving or paying funds; (iv) an upsell condition identifier 94for specifying at least one condition under which to offer the upsell,(v) an upsell identifier 96 for specifying a supplementary product(upsell) to be offered when the at least one offer condition is met, and(vi) an adjustment value 98 to a specified financial account.

Each condition identifier may depend on one or more purchase parameters.For example, the purchase parameter may be at least one productidentifier for specifying an item purchased. A corresponding conditionfor offering the supplementary product would be that the specified itemwas included in the customer's purchase. Another purchase parameter isthe purchase price. A corresponding condition for offering thesupplementary product would be that the customer's purchase price wasbelow a predetermined threshold, above a predetermined threshold orwithin a predetermined range. Another purchase parameter is anindication of time, such as a date, a time of day, a day of the week,season or a combination thereof. A corresponding condition for offeringthe supplementary product would be that the time of the purchasecorresponded to the specified indication of time. Another purchaseparameter is a merchant identifier specifying the merchant that owns orcontrols the CAT. A corresponding condition for offering thesupplementary product would be that the merchant identifier is apredetermined identifier, or the merchant identifier identifies amerchant having a predefined standard industry classification (SIC)code.

A customer account identifier for specifying a customer account is apurchase parameter that may be used in many different types ofconditions. The customer account may be a credit card account, frequentshopper account or other account that indicates a customer. The customeraccount identifier is typically stored on a card, read by a cardauthorization terminal and transmitted to the central controller 12(FIG. 1). The customer account specifies a customer, and thus may beused to determine past purchases made by the customer. For example, thecustomer account may be used to determine a customer's past transactionswhich are stored in the account holder transaction database 26 (FIG. 2).A corresponding condition for offering a supplementary product would bethat a previous purchase included one or more predetermined products.

The customer account may also be used to determine past supplementaryproducts that have been offered to the customer. A correspondingcondition for offering a supplementary product would be that one or morepredetermined supplementary products had been offered to the customer.Past offers are stored in the accepted upsell database 30 (FIG. 2) ofthe central controller 12.

Referring to FIG. 5, a record 100 of the accepted upsell database 30(FIG. 2) defines supplementary products that were previously offered toan account holder identified by an account identifier 102. The acceptedupsell database 30 (FIG. 2) typically includes a plurality of recordssuch as the record 100, each defining the supplementary products thatwere previously offered to an account holder. The record 100 includesentries 104, 106 and 108 which each describe a supplementary productthat was previously offered to the account holder. Each of the entries104, 106 and 108 specifies (i) a date 110 when the supplementary productwas offered to the customer, (ii) an offered upsell identifier 112 whichuniquely identifies the offered supplementary product, and whichcorresponds to the upsell identifier 91 of the upsell database 28 ofFIG. 4, (iii) an indication 114 of whether the offered supplementaryproduct was accepted by the customer, and (iv) a transaction identifier116 for uniquely indicating the transaction during which thesupplementary product was accepted, and which corresponds to thetransaction identifier 56 shown in FIG. 3 with reference to the record40. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the acceptedupsell database 30 (FIG. 2) may include any number of records, and eachrecord may include any number of entries.

The accepted upsell database 30 (FIG. 2) may be used for marketinganalysis, and specifically to determine how to more accurately selectupsells to be offered, so that account holders are more likely to acceptthe offers. In addition, the accepted upsell database 30 may be used toassure that upsells which were previously offered to and rejected by anaccount holder will not be offered to the same account holder again.

Since the customer account specifies a customer, the customer accountmay also be used to determine other customer-specific information fromthird parties. The customer account may specify a customer by name andaddress, which in turn may be used to identify, for example, thecustomer's credit history, telephone service provider, cable serviceprovider and utility service provider. Some corresponding conditions foroffering a supplementary product based on such customer informationwould be that the customer did not subscribe to a particular utilityservice provider, or that the customer had recently switched telephoneservice providers. Other types of information and correspondingconditions will be understood by those skilled in the art.

Those skilled in the art will understand that determining whether anyupsell condition is satisfied maybe accomplished in many ways. Forexample, the central controller 12 may, for each entry in the upselldatabase 28, determine if the corresponding upsell condition of theentry is satisfied. Referring again to FIG. 4, if a purchase satisfiesan upsell condition 94 of the upsell database 28, the correspondingupsell 96 is offered. If the purchase parameters of a customer'spurchase satisfy more than one upsell condition, one correspondingupsell may be selected and offered. Alternatively, more than onecorresponding upsell may be offered, as described in detail below.

Many types of upsells may be offered, and the description belowillustrates some, but not all, possible types of offered upsells. Othertypes of upsells will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Sometypes of upsells include (i) a use-based service agreement such as anagreement for telephone service or electric utility service, (ii) asubscription to a magazine or other periodical, and (iii) apredetermined discount off of a future purchase. Once the upsell(s) tooffer have been determined, the central controller 12 (FIG. 1) transmitsa product identifier for each upsell to the POS terminal from which thepurchase data originated.

Referring to FIG. 6, a method 120 performed by the central controller 12(FIG. 1) is initiated when the central controller 12 receives purchasedata from a CAT (step 122). As is known in the art, the centralcontroller determines if the received purchase data indicates anauthorized transaction (step 124). Typically, the step 124 includesdetermining whether the customer's credit card account may be debited bythe purchase price without exceeding an account balance limit. If thetransaction is not authorized, the central controller 12 transmits amessage to the CAT indicating that the purchase is denied (step 126).If, however, the transaction is authorized, the central controllerdetermines whether a supplementary product is to be offered to thecustomer and, if so, identifies the supplementary product with anidentifier (step 128). If there is no supplementary product to beoffered (step 130), then the central controller transmits anauthorization code to the CAT (step 132), thereby informing the CAT in aknown manner that the purchase may be accepted.

If there is a supplementary product to be offered, the centralcontroller 12 determines if the supplementary product will involvecrediting the customer's account (step 134). If so, then the centralcontroller 12 transmits to the CAT a product identifier that identifiesthe supplementary product (step 136), and also transmits anauthorization code (step 132). If not, the central controller 12determines if the supplementary product will involve debiting thecustomer's account (step 138). If so, the central controller 12determines whether to pre-authorize the debit amount (step 140). Forexample, the central controller may ascertain whether the customer'scredit card account may be further debited with the debit amount withoutexceeding the account balance limit If so, the central controller 12transmits the product identifier and an authorization code (steps 136and 132 respectively). If not, the central controller 12 transmits theauthorization code (step 132).

Customer Selection

The POS terminal receives one or more product identifiers, eachspecifying an offered upsell, from the central controller 12. Theproduct identifier may comprise descriptive text such as the name of theupsell, a price of the upsell, the name of the merchant offering theupsell, or a combination thereof. Thus, the POS terminal may display thereceived text on a display region of the corresponding CAT. In such anembodiment, conventional POS terminals which receive and displaytransmitted text would be able to present upsell offers to customers.Alternatively, each product identifier may comprise a unique code thatindicates text to display. In such an embodiment, the POS terminal wouldemploy each unique code as an indicator to a textual description storedeither in the POS terminal or in a storage area in communication withthe POS terminal. For example, the unique code could be used as an indexto a look-up table containing stored descriptive text. The POS terminalwould access and display the text corresponding to the unique code onthe display region of the corresponding CAT.

Once the customer is made aware of the offered upsell, he indicateswhether he will accept the upsell. In one embodiment, the customerinforms a clerk or other operator of the POS terminal of whether heaccepts. The operator in turn presses a button on the POS terminal orotherwise operates the POS terminal to generate a selection signalindicative of whether the upsell is accepted. Alternatively, thecustomer may himself operate the POS terminal, CAT or hardware attachedthereto to generate the selection signal. The selection signal istransmitted to the central controller 12.

If more than one product identifier is transmitted to the POS terminal,the central controller 12 may transmit the plurality of productidentifiers substantially simultaneously. In such an embodiment, the POSterminal would be able to offer substantially simultaneously more thanone upsell. Alternatively, the central controller 12 may transmit afirst product identifier, and only transmit subsequent productidentifiers after receiving from the POS terminal a selection signalwhich indicates that the first offered upsell was not accepted.

Referring to FIG. 7, a process 150 performed by the CAT is initiatedwhen the CAT receives an authorization code for a purchase and one ormore supplementary product identifiers (step 152) from the centralcontroller 12. The CAT processes the purchase in a known manner (step154). For example, the CAT may communicate with an electronic cashregister to print a receipt for the purchase and adjust inventoryrecords to reflect the sold items included in the purchase. In addition,a text description of the supplementary product offer is displayed tothe customer (step 156). The customer indicates whether he accepts theoffer (step 158) and a selection signal is generated accordingly (step160). The selection signal is then transmitted to the central controller(step 162).

Adjusting a Balance of a Financial Account

The central controller 12 receives the selection signal from the POSterminal. If the selection signal indicates that the upsell is accepted,the central controller 12 determines an adjustment value correspondingto the selected upsell. The adjustment value specifies both an amount bywhich to adjust one or more financial accounts and an indication of theaccount(s) to be adjusted. The financial account may be, for example,the customer's credit card account or a merchant's financial account,depending on the selected upsell. The central controller 12 adjusts abalance of each indicated financial account in dependence on theadjustment value.

Referring to FIG. 8, the entry 82 of FIG. 4 is depicted for use in thefollowing exemplary use of an adjustment value. In this example, thecustomer makes a purchase at a POS terminal that is controlled by amerchant identified by “8888”. As is known in the art, purchase dataoriginating from a POS terminal typically includes a merchant identifierso that the central controller 12 may identify the owner/operator of thePOS terminal. The POS terminal displays an offer for the upsellspecified by the entry 82 (switch to MCI telephone service). After thecustomer selects the offered upsell, the central controller 12determines the corresponding adjustment value 98 (“$25 cash back”),indicating that the customer is to receive $25from the POS terminaloperator in return for accepting the upsell. Thus, the merchant “8888”will remit $25 to the customer.

The entry 82 also specifies that the merchant offering the upsell is amerchant identified by “2345”. Accordingly, the merchant “2345” is toreimburse the merchant “8888”, directly or indirectly, for the $25remitted to the customer. A table 210 shows the reconciliation betweenthe merchants. Such a table may merely represent transactions that thecentral controller 12 performs, and/or may correspond to an actualdatabase of transactions stored on the central controller 12. Thecentral controller 12 may, for example, debit a financial accountbelonging to merchant “2345” by $25, as illustrated by the entry 212 ofthe table 210. In addition, the central controller 12 credits afinancial account belonging to merchant “8888” by $25, as shown by theentry 214 of the table 210. In order to provide the upsell to thecustomer (i.e. switch the customer's telephone service to MCI™), thecentral controller 12 also transmits the customer account identifier toan MCI™ computer or similar receiving device, along with notice that theupsell has been accepted, thereby informing MCI™ of its new customer.The customer account identifier may further include information such asthe customer's address, or such information may be determined from theidentifier.

The financial transactions described by the table 210 may furtherdescribe transactions applied against respective financial accounts ofthe necessary parties, i.e. the merchant “2345” and the merchant “8888”.As shown by the financial account 93 of the entry 82, the merchant“2345” has a financial account “12345678”. A record 215 of the accountholder transaction database 26 (FIG. 2) defines the transactions appliedagainst the account “12345678”. The displayed entry 216 of the record215 describes a transaction corresponding to the $25.00 debit describedby the entry 212 of the table 210. A similar entry for the $25.00 creditwould exist in a record (not shown) defining transactions appliedagainst the account of merchant “8888”. The transaction identifier“1234564-A” of the entry 216 comprises a prefix “1234564” and a suffix“A”, thereby illustrating that the entry 216 defines an accepted upsell“A” that was generated for a transaction “1234564”. Those skilled in theart will understand that there are other methods for associating atransaction defined by an upsell with a purchase transaction.

Referring to FIG. 9, the entry 84 of FIG. 4 is depicted for use in thefollowing additional exemplary use of an adjustment value. In thisexample, the customer makes a $32 purchase at a POS terminal that iscontrolled by a merchant identified by “9999”. The POS terminal displaysan offer for the upsell specified by the entry 84 (sign up for ConEd™utility service). After the customer selects the offered upsell, thecentral controller 12 determines the corresponding adjustment value 98(free purchase), indicating that the customer receives a free purchasein return for accepting the upsell. Thus, the customer will ultimatelynot have to pay the $32 purchase price.

The entry 84 also specifies that the merchant offering the upsell is amerchant identified by “6789”. Accordingly, the merchant “6789” is topay the $32 purchase price by reimbursing the customer for his payment.A table 220 shows the reconciliation between the merchant “6789” and thecustomer. Such a table may merely represent transactions that thecentral controller 12 performs, or may correspond to an actual databaseof transactions stored on the central controller 12. The centralcontroller 12 may, for example, debit a financial account belonging tomerchant “6789” by $32, as illustrated by the entry 222 of the table220. In addition, the central controller 12 credits a financial accountbelonging to the customer by $32, as shown by the entry 224 of the table220.

The financial transactions described by the table 220 may furtherdescribe transactions applied against respective financial accounts ofthe necessary parties, i.e. the merchant “6789” and the customer, whohas the account “1111-1111-2222-2222”. As shown by the financial account93 of the entry 84, the merchant “6789” has a financial account“90123456”. A record 225 of the account holder transaction database 26(FIG. 2) defines the transactions applied against the account“90123456”. The displayed entry 226 of the record 225 describes atransaction corresponding to the $32.00 debit described by the entry 222of the table 220. A similar entry for the $32.00 credit to the customeraccount would exist in a record (not shown in FIG. 9) definingtransactions applied against the customer account “1111-1111-2222-2222”.The transaction identifier “8765432-B” of the entry 226 comprises aprefix “8765432” and a suffix “B”, thereby illustrating that the entry226 defines an accepted upsell “B” that was generated for a transaction“8765432”. Those skilled in the art will understand that there are othermethods for associating a transaction defined by an upsell with apurchase transaction.

Referring to FIG. 10, the entry 89 of FIG. 4 is depicted for use in thefollowing additional exemplary use of an adjustment value. In thisexample, the customer makes a purchase at 5:00 PM at a POS terminal thatis controlled by a merchant identified by “7777”.The POS terminaldisplays an offer for the upsell specified by the entry 89 ($5 offMcDonald's™ food). After the customer selects the offered upsell, thecentral controller 12 determines the corresponding adjustment value 98(“$4.50 Price”), indicating that the customer pays $4.50 to the POSterminal operator in return for the $5 off a future purchase ofMcDonald's™ food.

The entry 89 also specifies that the merchant offering the upsell is amerchant identified by “8901”. Accordingly, the merchant “8901” is toreceive the $4.50 price the customer pays to the POS terminal operatorfor the upsell. A table 230 shows the reconciliation between themerchant “8901” and the merchant “7777”. Such a table may merelyrepresent transactions that the central controller 12 performs, or maycorrespond to an actual database of transactions stored on the centralcontroller 12. The central controller 12 may, for example, debit afinancial account belonging to the merchant “7777”, as illustrated bythe entry 232 of the table 230. In addition, the central controller 12credits a financial account belonging to the merchant “8901” by $4.50,as shown by the entry 234.

In return for the $4.50 paid, an authorization code for uniquelyidentifying the customer's purchase is generated. The POS terminalprints the authorization code on a receipt that is given to thecustomer. The receipt and authorization code are redeemable for thespecified $5.00 discount on a subsequent purchase at McDonald's. Ifdesired, a POS terminal at the point of redemption may be equipped toreceive and verify the authorization code. The code may be verified, forexample, by transmitting the code to the central controller 12 andreceiving a response indicating authorization. Once the code isverified, the POS terminal may automatically apply the discount byreducing the purchase price by $5.00 or crediting the customer's accountby $5.00.

The financial transactions described by the table 230 may furtherdescribe transactions applied against respective financial accounts ofthe necessary parties, i.e. the merchant “7777” and the merchant “8901”.As shown by the financial account 93 of the entry 89, the merchant“8901” has a financial account “34567890”. A record 235 of the accountholder transaction database 26 (FIG. 2) defines the transactions appliedagainst the account “34567890”. The displayed entry 236 of the record235 describes a transaction corresponding to the $4.50 credit describedby the entry 234 of the table 230. A similar entry for the $4.50 debitto the customer account would exist in a record (not shown in FIG. 10)defining transactions applied against an account of the merchant “7777”.The transaction identifier “99887766-E” of the entry 236 comprises aprefix “99887766” and a suffix “E”, thereby illustrating that the entry236 defines an accepted upsell “E” that was generated for a transaction“99887766”. Those skilled in the art will understand that there areother methods for associating a transaction defined by an upsell with apurchase transaction.

Referring to FIG. 11, a process 250 performed by the central controller12 initiates upon receiving the selection signal from the CAT (step252). If, at step 254, the selection signal indicates that thesupplementary product is not accepted, then this negative response tothe offer is stored (step 256). However, if the selection signalindicates that the supplementary product is accepted, then the centralcontroller determines at step 258 whether any CAT or POS terminaloperation instructions are required. If so, then appropriateinstructions are transmitted to the CAT/POS for display (step 260).

The affirmative response to the offer is stored (step 262). Theadjustment value corresponding to the accepted supplementary productindicates appropriate financial accounts and adjustment amounts (step264). The central controller adjusts the balances of those financialaccounts in dependence on the adjustment value (step 266). In addition,the appropriate merchant is notified that the offer was accepted (step268).

Although the present invention has been described with respect to apreferred embodiment thereof, those skilled in the art will note thatvarious substitutions may be made to those embodiments described hereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.For example, the present invention is applicable to other types offinancial accounts besides credit card accounts. In addition, althoughthe above-description makes reference to POS terminals that include cardauthorization terminals, the present invention may be employed usingdevices such as automatic teller machines (ATMs) and personal computerswhich communicate with the central controller.

1. A system, comprising: a memory storing information about consumeraccounts, wherein the information comprises transaction history and anaccount identifier; and a processor configured for receiving, from auser device at a point of sale (POS), transaction information for apurchase between a consumer and a merchant; determining an offer toprovide to the consumer; transmitting the offer to the device; receivingan indication of whether the offer was accepted by the consumer; andpresenting the offer to the consumer at the point of sale.
 2. The systemof claim 1, wherein the offer is based on a purchase price of thetransaction.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the offer is based onpast transactions of the consumer.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein theoffer is based on products offered to the consumer in the past.
 5. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the offer is based on offers accepted by theconsumer in the past.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the offer isbased on information about the consumer
 7. The system of claim 1,wherein the offer is for a predetermined discount off a future purchase.8. The system of claim 1, wherein the offer is for a service.
 9. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the processor further credits a consumeraccount when the consumer accepts the electronic offer from the device.10. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor further debits aconsumer account when the consumer accepts the offer from the device.11. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor further adjusts amerchant account associated with the device where the offer is acceptedor adjusts an account of the consumer who accepted the offer andadjusting a merchant account associated with the offer.
 12. Anon-transitory machine-readable medium comprising a plurality ofmachine-readable instructions which when executed by one or moreprocessors of a server are adapted to cause the server to perform amethod comprising: receiving, from a device at a point of sale (POS),transaction information for a purchase between a consumer and a firstmerchant; determining an offer to provide to the consumer; transmittingthe offer to the device; receiving an indication of whether the offerwas accepted by the consumer; and presenting the offer to the consumerat the point of sale.
 13. The non-transitory machine-readable medium ofclaim 12, wherein the device is a POS terminal.
 14. The non-transitorymachine-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the offer is from a secondmerchant unaffiliated with the first merchant.
 15. The non-transitorymachine-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the indication is receivedfrom the device.
 16. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim12, wherein the device is a card authorization terminal.
 17. Thenon-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 12, wherein thereceiving, determining, transmitting, and receiving is by a credit cardissuer.
 18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 12,wherein the offer is immediately redeemable.
 19. The non-transitorymachine-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the offer is provided tothe consumer on the device.
 20. The non-transitory machine-readablemedium of claim 12, wherein the device comprises a card reader.
 21. Thenon-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the firstmerchant and the second merchant do not own or control the device. 22.The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 12, wherein theoffer is based, at least in part, on information about the consumer. 23.A method, comprising: receiving, electronically by a processor of aservice provider, transaction information for a purchase between aconsumer and a first merchant from a device at a point of sale (POS);determining, electronically by the processor, an offer to provide to theconsumer; transmitting, electronically by the processor, the offer tothe device; receiving, electronically by the processor, an indication ofwhether the offer was accepted by the consumer; and presenting the offerto the consumer at the point of sale.